New Pavements
by PhoenixJustice
Summary: Fandom: At the End of the Road. Pairing: Woojin/Taemin, set at the end of chapter 57.9, spoilers for the series. "If you are nothing, then I am also nothing. If you do not exist, then I do not exist."


New Pavements

By: PhoenixJustice

Disclaimer: At the End of the Road is property of Haribo, Lezhin and not me. I only own this story and make no profit from this.

Warning: Rated M for language, graphic sexual content, BL, etc.

Pairing: Min Woojin/Yoon Taemin.

Setting: At the end of chapter 57.9, spoilers for the series.

Summary: _"If you are nothing, then I am also nothing. If you do not exist, then I do not exist."_

A/N: Names are written in the same manner that Japanese names are, i.e. last name first, first name last. So Woojin would be Min Woojin's first name and Taemin is Yoon Taemin's first name, etc. And in the manhwa, as with other manhwa's, characters have a tendency to speak someone's full name when talking about them or to them.

Enjoy!

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The way back to Min Woojin's place is a blur; it seems from one blink of the eyes to the next that he is on the steps of the Columbarium and the next he's being lead in through the front door of Woojin's apartment. The next, he's sitting on Woojin's bed, staring blankly down at his own hands.

It wasn't like he hadn't expected it. But he had still, however small of a chance it had been, held the hope that his body was still around. Maybe with the true Han Siwon's mind gone, having passed on to Wherever, but leaving his body intact, letting him retake it.

Seeing the urn there...it made it hit home, completely and truly that no matter what happened from here on out...there would be no getting his old body back. To the world at large he was, and would always be, Han Siwon. Yoon Taemin no longer had any place in this world.

Yoon Taemin didn't-

He starts as he feels a pressure squeeze his hands and looks down (when had he looked away?) at his hands to see the large and warm ones of Min Woojin's there. He looks up to see Woojin look at him, a look of concern that would never otherwise grace his face. There were no real feelings of concern or the like in Woojin for others.

Except for...but he wasn't Yoon Taemin anymore, was he? Hadn't that been stripped from him?

"Yoon Taemin, are you-"

He jerks his hands out of Woojin's and looks away. The room was taking on a blurry look all of a sudden and he couldn't understand why. Couldn't understand anything. All he could see was the white urn sitting there innocuously, as if he wasn't signifying the end of everything he ever was or ever could be again.

"I'm nothing." He says hoarsely. He hated this feeling. Hated it more than anything in the world. Hated it like he hated the feeling, the despair, that had welled up in him once he realized, all those years ago when Min Woojin had left and he wouldn't be coming back to him again. "If Yoon Taemin is dead and Han Siwon is dead, what does that make me?"

He turns back to look at Min Woojin, shock and grief keeping him from seeing the dismay on Woojin's face. He hated feeling weak, _being_ weak. It reminded him when he was too weak to protect his mother from his father's assaults. It reminded him when he was too weak to protect himself. It reminded him when he hadn't been able to be strong enough to keep Woojin from leaving.

"What am I, Min Woojin? _What am-!"_

He's stopped from whatever he is going to say, scream, next by Woojin reaching forward to grab his face, kissing him hard. It takes a few moments, but then he blinks and kisses back almost without thinking, surprised at the taste of salt there.

He had been crying this whole time.

"You don't know the power you hold." Woojin whispers, pulling his mouth from him. He wipes the tears from Taemin's face with a tenderness that would astonish anyone. But he leans forward again, kissing Taemin as if unable to stop himself. "You really don't, do you?"

"I-" He shakes his head, unable to respond any further, looking up at Woojin with large eyes full of despair.

"If you are nothing, then I am also nothing. If you do not exist, then I do not exist." Woojin says, holding his face in his hands now, light eyes piercing through him as they always did. "Do you understand, Yoon Taemin? I don't exist either."

He pauses, looking at Woojin closer. That phrase was spoken simply, but truthfully, and it helps knock Taemin out of the shock he had been feeling. While not as obviously dramatic as Taemin's loss of identity had been, he too had went through the same kind of loss. In some ways it was even worse than Taemin's, really; Taemin's had been quick, relatively speaking; he had been hit and died, then put into Han Siwon's body.

Whereas Woojin had lost his name once he had left the slums, but had the slow crawl of many, many years under even more abusive hands, constantly reminding him that he was _unworthy,_ that he was only the _replacement,_ and that he would _never_ had been picked back up if it hadn't been completely necessary.

He had been constantly reminded that he was unneeded, that _Min Woojin_ was unneeded in the world. That he would have to become the Min Siwoon that the world would see. Woojin would have to die-metaphorically-and be 'reborn' as Siwoon.

Only Taemin now knew, recognized, a Min Woojin in this world.

 _"If you are nothing, then I am also nothing. If you do not exist, then I do not exist."_

So...if he recognized Min Woojin as Min Woojin, acknowledged his existence, then that meant that his existence was validated too?

"If you are sad, I am sad." Woojin says. "If you are happy, I am happy. I don't see my existence as something separate from you. Min Woojin can only exist because Yoon Taemin is in the world. You don't give my world meaning. You _are_ that meaning."

"Min Woojin." He whispers.

Woojin's seem to light from deep within and he smiles.

"Yes?"

His mouth parts, his throat drying as quickly as the tears were now drying.

"Tell me." He asks him. Demands him. Pleading softly and hard.

His words were vague, but Woojin, as he always seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to anything relating to anything Taemin, knows immediately what he is asking from him. His smile widens and he leans forward, mouth temptingly close to his but he doesn't take that last bit forward to kiss him.

"I love you, Taemin."

Taemin pulls him that last little bit forward, kissing him.

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He lays back against the bed, ignoring the trembling in his limbs. He had never thought before that he'd be in this position. But seeing Woojin looming over him, he can't find it in himself to regret anything. While the road here wasn't entirely ideal, it still lead Min Woojin back into his life and that, more than anything else, made it all worth it.

Woojin's hand on his stomach is large and warm, eclipsing his borrowed one.

"Would we still have made it to this point, even if I hadn't died?" He asks, partly to Woojin, but also just partly aloud.

Woojin raises a brow at him, before grinning down at him.

"Was there any doubt?" He purrs, leaning down to steal a kiss.

Taemin flushes.

"Shut up." He grumbles.

Woojin merely shrugs elegant shoulders and leans back up, starting to unbutton his shirt, giving Taemin glimpses of powerful lines and planes of his body as he does so, making him flush further. Even if he hadn't really consciously thought of Woojin in that way, he couldn't ignore the fact anymore that he _had,_ even if he hadn't quite realized it. Maybe it was that he hadn't expected that he'd be in _this_ position, instead of Woojin.

But at this point...did it even matter?

He can't find it himself to be self-conscious of himself (not really noticing that for the first time, he was truly acknowledging his situation, that this was _his_ body, not one he was merely inhabiting any longer until he could find a way to his old one), instead all his focus is on Min Woojin and his body as the shirt comes off, tossed to the side of the bed, before he moves up off the bed enough to start unbuttoning his pants.

The more skin that gets revealed, the more he can feel a heated burst move throughout his body, until the point when Woojin too is fully naked, above him, looking down at him with a look in his eyes that makes him swallow looking at it.

All those years ago, back when it had been him and Woojin as children, against the world that had thrown them both away, who could have guessed things would have led here?

Woojin's eyes brighten as Taemin's hand comes to touch the side of his face. He moves his face against it, almost like a cat rubbing against their owner's hand. That was it, wasn't it? What made it all worth it? The struggle, the pain, the years of loneliness for both of them?

"Taemin." Woojin whispers.

It was worth it.

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It wasn't worth it.

"Oww!"

Woojin easily evades a foot kicked in his direction, looking down at Taemin with an unimpressed brow.

"It hurts!"

"It wouldn't hurt if you just stayed still, Yoon Taemin." Woojin says, with a sigh.

Taemin glares at him with watery eyes. Even if this body had been used before, _he_ still wasn't used to this sort of thing (plus it had been awhile since the body's former occupant's body had been opened up in this way.) Woojin's fingers are stilled in him though and he doesn't move them any further, despite his words. Why had he thought that being the one done would be good?

Woojin removes his fingers, still wet with lubrication and instead parts Taemin's legs further.

"What are you doing?" Taemin asks warily, still feeling a bit mad at Woojin.

"Making you feel good." Woojin says simply.

And then his mouth is on Taemin's ass.

He jumps in surprise, Woojin's iron gripped hands most likely the only thing keeping him in place.

"What the hell?!" He sputters.

Woojin's eyes glance up at him, but as is mouth is very obviously occupied, he doesn't answer back.

"Stop! That's...it's weird." He squirms around a bit, feeling almost embarrassed. Woojin, of course, doesn't show any sign of embarrassment whatsoever, despite the fact that his tongue was-oh god-licking around Taemin's ass.

Woojin lifts his head up briefly. "Does it hurt?"

"No, but-"

Woojin moves back to what he's doing, leaving Taemin to deal with his embarrassment all on his own. That wasn't the only thing though. Woojin's tongue is wet and cool as it slowly pries open Taemin's body and he feels a strange coiling sort of heat deep in his belly, strengthening the more Woojin works his tongue around.

He lets out a startled moan when one of Woojin's hands, still damp from the lubrication moves over his now achingly hard cock. He hisses as Woojin's hand moves up and down in time to his movements with his mouth. It felt...good. Like really, really fucking good. The kind of good that you couldn't achieve with just your own hand.

Woojin pauses, moving his mouth from Taemin's ass, looking up. Taemin flushes when he sees the sheen of saliva on Woojin's lip from his ministrations on him, the other man's eyes darkening as he looks at him.

"Do it again." Woojin demands.

"What?" He asks weakly. The pleasure was starting to really build now (Woojin's hand hadn't let up at all, even after stopping what he had been doing with his mouth) and it was getting increasingly harder to think straight.

Woojin thumbs over the head of his cock, causing him to moan again. Woojin's eyes look deeply into his, doing it again and again, making him cry out.

"That." Woojin purrs.

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His breath starts to come out in short puffs now, his hands over his eyes as Woojin moves in a steady rhythm with his hand and mouth.

"Min Woojin," He hisses between his teeth. "Stop."

A pause. Then: "Why?"

He's silent for a moment, sure that Woojin could see his blush, even though his hands were covering his face.

"I'll..." He doesn't finish his sentence, feeling embarrassed again.

It's quiet and then he feels, more than he sees between his fingers on his face, Woojin moving up his body, biting back a groan at the feeling of heated skin on heated skin. His heart was beating a mile a minute and surely even Woojin could hear it now.

"Really?" Woojin sounded...delighted, to Taemin's further embarrassment. His hand moves _lazier_ now, not quicker. Even so, it has the effect that Woojin must desire; Taemin's hips jerk up into his hand with each stroke.

"Stop."

"Let me see your face." Woojin demands.

"No, I-"

"Taemin." Woojin whispers.

He slowly moves his hand from his face, his cheeks still a mask of red as he looks up at Woojin. Woojin's eyes widen and he leans down, taking Taemin's mouth in a furious kiss, tongue sweeping his mouth with wide, confident, strokes.

He cries out against Woojin's mouth as he comes, spunk spattering over Woojin's hands, feeling the white hot pleasure lance through him in a way it had never come close to before.

He lies there, panting, eyes half lidded as he looks at Woojin who looks down at his hand covered in Taemin's juices. His own eyes widen as Woojin licks his own hand, eyes closing as he licks his hand clean of Taemin's pleasure.

"Oh god." Taemin whispers. Astonishingly, he can feel his cock stirring again at the sight. At seeing Min Woojin do something so dirty, something that surely no one could ever see him doing. _Except for Taemin._ Something he'd do for no one else or would like if it was anyone elses...

Woojin finishes licking his hand and looks at Taemin now.

There's no more words between them then in that moment. Woojin parts his legs and is inside of him in one thrust. He gasps, hands grasping Woojin's arms, at the sudden intrusion. But Woojin's earlier ministrations have more than done their job and the pain is brief and gone, with the discomfort soon gone as well.

Woojin's pace is steady at first, his cock moving deeply into Taemin's body, leaving Taemin to see the start of sweat on his brow as he moves within him. But Woojin doesn't forget about Taemin; he grasps Taemin's now fully hard cock, starting to stroke it in time with his thrusts, leaving Taemin to moan beneath him. Woojin's eyes peer at him, almost unblinking, as if devoting every second to his memory.

"Yoon Taemin." He whispers. "You are..."

Taemin cries out as Woojin thrusts harder, his movements starting to become more erratic. He can see trembling now in Woojin's limbs, his movements unsteady.

"I'm here." He tells Woojin. Woojin's eyes dart quickly to his and Taemin can completely see Woojin in that moment.

All the insecurities that he rarely ever let show anymore, the hardships he had gone through, the abuse he had suffered, mixed with a sweet kind of joy, happiness, that he had gone through all of the hard things, so he could be with Taemin again. That he would do it again in a heartbeat simply because to give Taemin happiness was all that he wanted.

And that he would never let Woojin suffer alone ever again.

"Yoon Taemin."

"I'm here."

Woojin's limbs shake more violently now, as erratic as his thrusts are now. Taemin can feel a deep kind of pleasure building within himself, as equal as the love he felt for Woojin now.

"Taemin." Woojin groans, almost in despair.

"I'm here." He says with a half laugh, half sob.

Surely there wasn't anyone who was so lucky to be so loved right now in this world, but him?

"Stay with me." Woojin says and Taemin is startled to see tears in his eyes.

"You couldn't get rid of me if you tried." He says. Woojin lets out a sobbing laugh now, arms wrapping around him, pulling him closer, making Taemin groan as his cock rubs against Woojin's body, hips jerking with each thrust.

Woojin cries out, thrusting one last time, spilling himself deep within him and Taemin moans, following him down the abyss of pleasure.

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Woojin's arms are warm around his as he wraps himself around Taemin's body, his mouth soft against Taemin's neck as he kisses it softly. But even that can't keep Taemin from feeling that earlier hesitation from Woojin still lingering there.

He moves one languid down, until it reaches one of Woojin's larger hands, entwining it with his. Woojin's hand jerks in surprise but he doesn't say anything.

"Don't leave me again, all right?" He asks into the silence, though he doesn't expect a response. "I...couldn't handle that again. Stay with me."

He can feel the wetness of tears on his back now, against a slightly trembling body.

"Yoon Taemin." Woojin says brokenly.

"I'm here," He tells him. "Stay with me. Okay? Promise me. I-love you. So you can't ever leave like that again, okay? Stay with me."

"I love you." Woojin says, arms tightening around Taemin. His mouth a brand now on his neck.

"Stay with me."

"Yes."

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A/N: My first foray into writing for this manhwa! I couldn't help myself this time though. After re-reading the manhwa, it was BEGGING me to write for it and I had to listen! lol. What a fantastic manhwa.

I hope you enjoyed this!

Let me know what you thought!

-PhoenixJustice


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